Comment:

The folks at iTunes Essentials recently caught a rare Bad Brains gig — on a New York City ship skimming its way across the Hudson River. As odd as the pairing may sound (one of the most important hardcore matinee acts ever . . . on a "concert cruise"?), the band silenced all skeptics with a well-oiled set of punk standards ("I Against I," "Banned in D.C.," "Pay to C*m") and gnarly new jams ("Build a Nation," "Universal Peace") so electrifying they got some aging punks to stage dive from a nearby balcony (let's just say everyone was thankful for dub reggae breathers like "Jah Love"). In the end, H.R. and company showed, once again, that when it comes to punk, they're as timeless — and nearly as important — as the Clash and the Ramones.